Best part of the article is the video at the bottom. I keep finding myself pulling hard for that defensive player to deliver a killing blow.

That and this:

5. I think there’s a new feeling in Cleveland. We have new ownership, we have new coaches, and the coaches are really good. We didn’t get coaches who don’t really have a good track record, we got coaches who have coached in Super Bowls, who have coached winning teams. They know what they are doing, and they know how to get the best out of their players.

Tucked in the back of Connor Barwin’s uniform, between his shoulder blades, was a small black-and-orange gadget about the size of a hockey puck. Weighing just 30 grams, it contained a GPS, magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope that had just recorded his every movement on the practice field.

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

The Haden piece was pure fluff, but the bio metric stuff the Eagles are using, run by a former Navy Seal training instructor, is pretty cool. I mean it's not racist inflammatory our soul crushingly bad QB play, but it beats just about anything else NFL-ish I could find

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

e0y2e3 wrote:Oh and if you want to know why the NFL sucks and keeps getting worse? That stupid ass Dolphins game Sunday Night averaged 10MM viewers?

Seriously? That is just under double the highest rated NBA playoff game and like fifteen times the highest rated MLB playoff game.

When sheeple flock to a sport this mindlessly, especially for a gawd damn preseason game there is no accountability. It's a damn shame.

Maybe, after a 10 month marathon NBA season where the eventual champion had pretty much been pre-determined before the 10 month marathon season the 10MM viewers were overjoyed to watch some athletes that care about what they do more than 2% of the season.

Don't look in the rear view mirror, Eye, that might be the NHL catching up in popularity to the NBA.

e0y2e3 wrote:just under double the highest rated NBA playoff game and like fifteen times the highest rated MLB playoff game.

IIRC NBA Finals Games 6 and 7 both had 20MM+ viewers, I'm sure plenty of other games had over 10MM as well. That 10MM for a preseason game is crazy high, but its not "double the highest rated". And I'm positive that every MLB playoff game has over 700K viewers.

If he sits out tomorrow I think it's just cautionary. All reports indicate he's able to practice (but being held out of team drills) and the shin is fine but I don't think they can stomach seeing someone lay a helmet on that leg until the games count. Not an orange helmet nor an opponent's helmet.

If he sits out tomorrow I think it's just cautionary. All reports indicate he's able to practice (but being held out of team drills) and the shin is fine but I don't think they can stomach seeing someone lay a helmet on that leg until the games count. Not an orange helmet nor an opponent's helmet.

If he sits out tomorrow I think it's just cautionary. All reports indicate he's able to practice (but being held out of team drills) and the shin is fine but I don't think they can stomach seeing someone lay a helmet on that leg until the games count. Not an orange helmet nor an opponent's helmet.

e0y2e3 wrote:just under double the highest rated NBA playoff game and like fifteen times the highest rated MLB playoff game.

IIRC NBA Finals Games 6 and 7 both had 20MM+ viewers, I'm sure plenty of other games had over 10MM as well. That 10MM for a preseason game is crazy high, but its not "double the highest rated". And I'm positive that every MLB playoff game has over 700K viewers.

Yeah, Deitsch lied. I should have remembered that.

As to the NBA's popularity commish, I'm not worried it grows every year, significantly and the league is plenty healthy. I could care less if anyone else ever watches to be frank.

My point is 10MM people just watched a completely useless game for a sport where the commish is doing his best to run it into the ground, that isn't helping anything.

Not saying that the NFL is some great product either (give me Formula 1, IndyCar, and College Football over it), but I just don't like the NBA.

Now, I like the Browns, Indians, and Cavs as individual entities, but I don't really get overly excited for their respective leagues as much as I probably should.

Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.

There's nothing to do. The more the league does to neuter defenses, the more Goodell treats players like 1st graders that he should be able to run rough shot over, etc, the more popular it gets.

Fantasy football's growth, IMO, is the driving factor. Add in things like the Red Zone Network and well you have every stupid ass 20 year old girl in the country wanting to go watch "their fantasy team" play on Sundays now.

This is on top of the standard fair gambling, once a week, easy to follow aspects.

There is no way to stop people from flocking to the "easiest" and "lowest" common denominator. Frankly I wish more people would turn to CFB now since it's such a superior sport, but there is no fantasy there....

My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

The diehard people that play fantasy baseball and basketball are diehard fans. Those fantasy sports are hard, take tons of time and are only played by true fans (aside from the one year random asshat decided to try and quits mid-season). I spend more time on freaking fantasy basketball than I care to admit (especially my keeper league) and that doesn't even come close to the demands of a baseball league.

Fantasy football has taken off because of how damn easy it is.

Seriously, in a simple ten team league a monkey could hit keys on the keyboard and draft a replacement level team.

And CFB's popularity remains pretty damn flat. No sport has ever seen growth like the NFL.

The only reason fantasy football is easier is that there is only one day a week that it matters (and while that's not as true as it used to be, my guess is that fantasy football players especially hate Thursday night games.)

For baseball, I have to check every day. Football, just Sunday. While it's possible, that difference doesn't feel to me like it can explain a 10 fold increase in popularity. Maybe it can, but I'm skeptical.

It's not just that, it is also the ways to score (yards and TD!), the fact that the league is so offense driven now it's hard to not draft players that score!, and just the general "sameness" of players across the board.

Seriously, how many truly "Elite" football players are there fantasy wise? When all you need is yards and TDs and catches (sometimes) it's really not hard to blindly hit buttons.

Then, of course, the daily v. weekly, etc sets.

Just seriously look at the coverage of fantasy football over the last five years. It drives ESPN.com now more than football itself. ESPN is running fantasy football Sunday preview shows on Networks opposite Sunday NFL Countdown. The scrolling bar during games? Fantasy tracking now.

That shit doesn't happen if the "people" identifying what is driving the popularity don't identify FF as the main driver.

bac5665 wrote:My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

You're touching on another reason football in general is so popular, the limited number of games on the schedules. Baseball and hoops schedules become overwhelmingly monotonous, tiresome and flat out annoying over time, particularly to the average/casual fan. It's part of the reason many baseball teams have attendance issues. With football, at college and pro level, the games are few enough that each game holds a significant level of importance when compared to its hoops and baseball counterparts.

Cut 10 games off the front and back of MLB, end the post season in mid Oct.Cut the NBA schedule down to 72 games and/or make the post season all 5 game series except for both final rounds.

Criminals in this town used to believe in things...honor, respect."I heard your dog is sick, so bought you this shovel"

e0y2e3 wrote:It's not just that, it is also the ways to score (yards and TD!), the fact that the league is so offense driven now it's hard to not draft players that score!, and just the general "sameness" of players across the board.

Seriously, how many truly "Elite" football players are there fantasy wise? When all you need is yards and TDs and catches (sometimes) it's really not hard to blindly hit buttons.

Then, of course, the daily v. weekly, etc sets.

Just seriously look at the coverage of fantasy football over the last five years. It drives ESPN.com now more than football itself. ESPN is running fantasy football Sunday preview shows on Networks opposite Sunday NFL Countdown. The scrolling bar during games? Fantasy tracking now.

That shit doesn't happen if the "people" identifying what is driving the popularity don't identify FF as the main driver.

Eh, the mediocrity of serviceable fantasy baseball players is pretty comparable to football. I have some pretty mediocre baseball players on my fantasy roster and that's par for the course. Just like in football, you just rank the top half of all starters and start drafting.

I agree that ESPN and the NFL network are trying to tie fantasy football into the mainstream football presentation, but it's awfully hard to tell whether the dog is wagging the tail or if it is the other way around.

60% of my yearly fantasy time is on baseball.30% is on basketball.10% is on football.

Football is a joke of a fantasy league. You can draft a winning team with absolutely zero prep work. I have done nothing to prepare for this season and could draft a top 4 team in most 12 teams leagues right this second.

Um, I will take Aaron Rogers first. If Rogers has the year he could have, that league could be done at that moment. Find a decent #1 back and a good #1 receiver and bam. Or he could tear his ACL and that team goes 3-9.

Not a single baseball player. Not a single basketball player. Can you say that about.

In all seriousness, how long until the O- and D-linemen revolt against the QB-centric sport the game has become? A QB can add and subtract 10 wins. No other position in the league adds a whole game. That has to make the whole team spirit thing difficult.

bac5665 wrote:In all seriousness, how long until the O- and D-linemen revolt against the QB-centric sport the game has become? A QB can add and subtract 10 wins. No other position in the league adds a whole game. That has to make the whole team spirit thing difficult.

Am I wrong in thinking that this current model isn't sustainable?

That's the hope, but with "concussions" now becoming such an issue it's only gonna get worse, IMO.

I do somewhat agree with HooDoo that you may have seen some team just say fuck it, go Bama style and win a title at some point once enough D's got too "soft". With Concussions I doubt it.

You've got ups and down, but CFB's popularity is nowhere near what the NFL has done.

(I love how the BCS just lays "most watched cable event in history" shit out there when only talking about their sport).

Factually the only sport seeing serious TV declines is baseball. The NBA is also growing at a good rate.

I guess my overall point with CFB v. NFL was that, if we ignore fantasy football implications, Joe Sixpack isn't going to sit down and watch BYU v. Utah on a Thursday night on ESPN. But if there's a standalone NFL game, on a network everybody gets, people all over will watch it. CFB is highly regional. Take the lowest-rated BCS game, LSU and Alabama. But then you get Notre Dame and Alabama, encompassing Irish fans everywhere, and the ratings go back up. The NFL is national.

But, I think if you looked at regional viewership of CFB games, you'd find pretty decent ratings, whereas I doubt local ratings are that much higher than national ratings for NFL.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

Well that's the issue. Between linemen taking the brunt of concussions, and being marginalized anyway, how long till they just don't play any more, at least not the good ones? That has to be a concern of the league, yes?

bac5665 wrote:My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

Baseball is dying?

Shit. Someone should haave told those dudes that just paid $2 Billion for the Dodgers.

You've got ups and down, but CFB's popularity is nowhere near what the NFL has done.

(I love how the BCS just lays "most watched cable event in history" shit out there when only talking about their sport).

Factually the only sport seeing serious TV declines is baseball. The NBA is also growing at a good rate.

I guess my overall point with CFB v. NFL was that, if we ignore fantasy football implications, Joe Sixpack isn't going to sit down and watch BYU v. Utah on a Thursday night on ESPN. But if there's a standalone NFL game, on a network everybody gets, people all over will watch it. CFB is highly regional. Take the lowest-rated BCS game, LSU and Alabama. But then you get Notre Dame and Alabama, encompassing Irish fans everywhere, and the ratings go back up. The NFL is national.

But, I think if you looked at regional viewership of CFB games, you'd find pretty decent ratings, whereas I doubt local ratings are that much higher than national ratings for NFL.

Yeah, this is 100% true.

Honestly, the NFL and NBA are the most "national" sports (I speak in terms of NBA fans generally also being more national than say baseball fans).

bac5665 wrote:My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

Baseball is dying?

Shit. Someone should haave told those dudes that just paid $2 Billion for the Dodgers.

bac5665 wrote:My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

Baseball is dying?

Shit. Someone should haave told those dudes that just paid $2 Billion for the Dodgers.

Baseball is in a really weird spot.

Nationally no one cares to watch random games but the regional aspect is driving enough money that they are still rich as hell.

IMO, baseball is the one sport that needs to be seriously worried what will happen when the Baby Boomers finally die. The average age of people watching the WS the last few years is so old it is terrifying.

bac5665 wrote:My one problem with that take is that fantasy baseball was first and yet baseball is dying. And there is fantasy for every sport.

So if fantasy is the answer (and it probably is at least a part of it) we have to explain why fantasy hasn't had the same impact on any other sport.

And for what it's worth, CFB is probably the 2nd biggest sport in the country, after the NFL. The fact that there are 500000 games on TV every Saturday is pretty indicative of that. So you are getting your wish. It just will probably end up dumbing down the college game too over the next decade.

Baseball is dying?

Shit. Someone should haave told those dudes that just paid $2 Billion for the Dodgers.

Baseball is in a really weird spot.

Nationally no one cares to watch random games but the regional aspect is driving enough money that they are still rich as hell.

IMO, baseball is the one sport that needs to be seriously worried what will happen when the Baby Boomers finally die. The average age of people watching the WS the last few years is so old it is terrifying.

Exactly. It is really regional. Completely regional actually. bac says it's dead as a national sport as if it ever wa a natinal sport. Look at attendence figures for the 70's It's ridiculous. But regionally team after team is signing huge TV deals with their own networks.

It's incomparable to the other sports. A completely different animal. Yet every year you read stories written about how it's dying out. Mostly comparing it to the NFL which, for reasons mentioned in this thread, is just silly. Go back and search 10...20 years ago and you'll find those same articles lamenting the death of baseball. But it never happens.

You might be right about the baby boomers. Maybe it will be in trouble down the road because of that. But I doubt it.

I'm looking forward to the slew of "baseball is dead" articles coming around next May sometime. Right around the same time everyone wonders why African American ballplayers are dying out...again.